A place by the sea......

Sadmonkey

Hi
I'm sadmonkey, and I've been in debt for most of my adult life. It really started when hubby lost his job about 12 years ago and we lived on credit for a few months. After that I was at home with the kids for a number of years and to be completely honest, used shopping as therapy. We have a house full of "stuff", memories of some amazing holidays, but now have £58k of debt. Which is really embarrassing to admit.
We both now have good jobs, combined salaries of over £65k. House is small, but mortgage is only about £70k and house is worth £150k.
We've been muddling along for the last five or six years, paying minimums on cards and making half hearted attempts to clear debts, whilst still booking lots and lots of holidays and buying things.
However....we want to move. We are both getting older (mid forties) and kids will soon be off to uni, and we have no real ties to our home town. We would love to move to the South West, and take our feet off the gas a little.
So, we need to sort our finances.
I'm hoping that a diary will keep me focused. Currently our debt is in a snowballer and we are looking at 43 months to clear it all. This will fit in with our plans as we want to move in 4 years, when our youngest finishes school. BUT we need to stick to it, as this is the zillionth time I've set up the snowball, lasted a few months then binned it and booked another holiday or six.
We also have a house full of stuff, we need to sell as much as we can as I can't imagine moving at the moment with a full garage, loft and two sheds.
This week so far I've made £150 selling some designer dresses on eBay, and £130 selling some bits from the shed on Facebook. I'm currently needing to save £230 a month to pay for the holidays we've booked for next year, then from 2017 they will stop too. Next years are long planned, and our last hurrah with eldest who will then go to uni. This £230 won't come out of our budget, I'd like to clear it from selling unwanted stuff in the house, killing two birds with one stone!
So please join me for the ride.
Sadmonkey x

Sadmonkey

To add, current snowball is that we will clear £1300 off the total every month. Most of the credit card debt is on 0% deals, as our credit score is good as we've not defaulted on anything, ever.
Today I've written off to cancel two empty credit cards, we have another standing at £0 awaiting a 0% deal for when the Bcd 0% deal ends in November so we can BT over.
I'm waiting for the Next account statement so I can pay off the remaining £50 and then close it.
Simply Be account is now closed.

Florence_J

Hi Sadmonkey, I thought I recognised you from the 'Make X a day' thread.

Sounds like you've got a plan, and i wish you the best of luck with it.

I'm sure it won't just be me that will give you ideas about what may help, but what usually helps is detailing how much money comes in and how much goes out, what you budget, what your bills are, how you allocate money for things like birthdays and christmas etc etc. You are welcome to share this information with us or just have it for your own personal use.

The first stage of solving a problem is admitting/discovering/announcing that there is a problem to be solved in the first place.

I can't tell you how much this forum has helped me and I wish you the best and that you will find similar support.

I've seen other posters recommend looking at YNAB (You need a budget) and i think it is a website that has a free trial period, or like me you may find pen/paper/spreadsheets are just as good.

You've done the snowballing thing, that's great. knowing how long it will take will see you get one step closer.

Please be aware that life has a funny habit of going off track, so the road may be bumpy and not necessarily straight, but having a plan means you are aware of when you go off track, without it you will get lost.

I hope you get what you are looking for/need out of keeping a diary on this forum, everyone is really nice and full of great advice, you'll get there.

take care

x

Sadmonkey

Thanks Florence.
Yes, part of our revised budget includes some money for emergencies. The last time we went off the rails was because of an unexpected expense. I use a notebook for expenses, monthly and extra, so know exactly to the penny how much we spend. Last year we were living in a £3.5k overdraft permanently, which is now paid off fully, so the current account is in credit all the time, and that's a massive boost, to be in the black even if it's only by pennies at the end of the month.

Just sold another item on eBay for £45....the advantage of being an ex shopaholic is that I have some fairly valuable stuff just lying around, I guess. :cool::o

Orange_Ena

Good luck sadmonkey, I'm subscribing to cheer you on

I'd love to move to the south west too. One day!

Sadmonkey

Thanks Orange Ena. It's a dream at the moment, but we are really hopeful we can make it a reality.

tori.k

Best of luck SM

I found breaking it down into smaller challenges is keeping me more motivated the time between paydays always seems longer now working to a plan.

Sadmonkey

Thanks Tori. Yes, I think that breaking it down into £5k or £10k chunks will be less depressing! Snowball puts us sub £50k in Feb 2017, which seems a good place to aim for.

Sadmonkey

Pay day today. I got £130 more than expected, and also sold a bag of books this morning for £25. All good. £25 going to the holiday fund, the £130 will sit in the budget and whatever is over at the end of July will go to debts. Hubby doesn't get paid until the 28th so budget will be finalised then.
I use a notebook, money in goes into book, then all direct debits and payments come out at the start and are ticked off as they actually come out. Also use virtual wallets for food, fuel and other stuff, transferring what's left at the end of month into sub accounts.
I'm organised, just need to stick to the budget and not buy extra stuff on credit!

gallygirl

Sadmonkey wrote: »

Thanks Orange Ena. It's a dream at the moment, but we are really hopeful we can make it a reality.

A dream without a plan is just a wish. You have a plan, keep to it and it CAN happen :T.

You know what your problem area is - so next time you want to book a holiday, work out how much it will cost in total. How long will that delay your dream by? Is it worth it? Do you really want to work another x months in a job you're not enjoying to pay for another holiday you need because you're working in a job you're not enjoying to pay for the last holiday you needed etc etc? I applied that principle right down to £3 cups of coffee etc. Even if it added 15 minutes to my working life that was usually too long :rotfl:.

Good luck :T.

Sadmonkey

Thanks gallygirl. Absolutely spot on.
Is your sig your debt? You've cleared over £100k?